Good career/specs for a musketeer-style character?

By Rortharr, in Star Wars: Edge of the Empire RPG

I also posted this on the SWRPG subreddit, and I chose this subforum because the campaign will likely be Edge (with Obligations) and also this seems like the most-visited of the SWRPG forums, so hopefully that means more responses/ideas!

By Musketeer, I mean like The Three Musketeers; a dashing, handy-with-a-sword type of character, whose strengths will probably be melee fighting (maybe some Ranged Light with a pistol in the other hand), and charming people.

I'm prepared to buy two at character creation or buy the second very soon in the campaign.

Obviously I want something that will give me boosts to melee fighting (thanks for the vibro-rapier, Fly Casual!), and ideally somewhere in there is the option to get Scathing Tirade and its upgraded talents so I can have a mechanical benefit to witty banter with my enemies as I duel them.

Any suggestions for good careers and specializations? I'm going for a Human and probably taking an additional 10 XP, and I will have access to all three lines of material (Edge, Age, and the Force and Destiny beta) to choose from.

I would honestly say Marauder and Gunslinger. Marauder has all the choppy you could want, while Gunslinger is not just a good shooter, but has things like a better quick draw, more damage on a first strike, and not adding setback to an aim to disarm. Only two Gunslinger talents are just for firearms, so it works really well IMO.

I would honestly say Marauder and Gunslinger. Marauder has all the choppy you could want, while Gunslinger is not just a good shooter, but has things like a better quick draw, more damage on a first strike, and not adding setback to an aim to disarm. Only two Gunslinger talents are just for firearms, so it works really well IMO.

Remember Musketeers are called Musketeers because they shoot. So those talents for firearms make sense.

For charming people and combat, Performer is a brilliant choice. Less so for combat (though Melee as a Career Skill does help a lot), but much more for the social skills and the Talents related to them. Other than that, maybe Charmer or Scoundrel (or both) for social savvy and combat (not so much for the Charmer, though)

I would honestly say Marauder and Gunslinger. Marauder has all the choppy you could want, while Gunslinger is not just a good shooter, but has things like a better quick draw, more damage on a first strike, and not adding setback to an aim to disarm. Only two Gunslinger talents are just for firearms, so it works really well IMO.

Remember Musketeers are called Musketeers because they shoot. So those talents for firearms make sense.

Also there's that new Paired Weapon mod in Fly Casual, just apply to a sword and gun and you're golden!

You'll need to be patient. You're wanting melee, which is Brawn, shooting, which is Agility, Charm, which is Presence, and Scathing Tirade, which is Coercion, so Willpower. Your stats are going to need to be spread out. You might want to narrow your focus a bit.

Go for a melee spec, and if you're human maybe take Charm as one of your non career skill choices. Being able to do all of what you want at creation or shortly thereafter means you'll have to accept you won't be particularly outstanding at anything for awhile.

Edited by 2P51

I would honestly say Marauder and Gunslinger. Marauder has all the choppy you could want, while Gunslinger is not just a good shooter, but has things like a better quick draw, more damage on a first strike, and not adding setback to an aim to disarm. Only two Gunslinger talents are just for firearms, so it works really well IMO.

Remember Musketeers are called Musketeers because they shoot. So those talents for firearms make sense.

If you want to get technical, they were called Musketeers due to their skill with a musket.

You might also consider Infiltrator (from Age of Rebellion) or Assassin (from Edge of the Empire).

I'd look into Hired Gun/Mercenary, or Smuggler/Scoundrel, although the Gambler and Gunslinger specializations lend a lot to the idea too. I suppose it depends on *which* musketeer you're trying to create.

Cool idea, by the way.

I would go Marshal/Performer from the Colonist book. You get a melee specialist that is more about acrobatics paired with a gunslinger built to take a lot of punishment and be very, very hard to fool. As a human with an extra 10xp, you can start with a 3 in Brawn, Agility, Willpower, and Presence; all of those work with the specs provided. Further bonus: they share a career, and further down the line you could add Politico if you need to be able to do Scathing Tirade.

I think that performer is a good start, and since you mention the vibrorapier, going with the common Three muskeeters image of good duelists (the often spend more time swordfighting rather than shooting) i'd ask the GM to be allowed to use the Makashi Duelist spec from Force and Destiny which is the most duel oriented spec available right now. While you won't be able to use some of the last taelents cause they need Force Rating, i think everything else fits the concept, including using presence to roll for hits (damage should still be brawn based though).

So i'd suggest performer/makashi duelist as good cocnept (maybe later you can add gunslinger or marshall for a more focus on shooting. Choose a human and take two non class skills that fits well with your concept and you're good to go.

I'd say go politico from the off, spend your off class skills on melee and ranged (either).

Take 3 agility, brawn, presence and will. Head to scathing tirade and pick up the combat skills and specs if you feel you need to afterwards.

I think it depends on what you consider to be important factors in a musketeer. Melee? Range? Verbal sparring? Charm? All of the those? Then pick where you want to start and build accordingly. Lots of good advice here and all of it works. You just have to choose where to start. You can't have it all right off but the musketeer concept is a good one. You just have to build to it.

What about: Charmer/Makashi Duelist.

Charmer for that roguishness, Duelist for the swordplay (note Duelist only has 4 Force talents in the tree, and only 1 that is unavoidable).

Melee won't be a career skill, but that's a fairly minor issue considering you'll have access to things like Parry and Resist Disarm. And as both Presence based Specs it'll synergize fairly well...

You'll pay a little more XP (5 per melee rank, and a 10XP dead talent, so....say 25? Thats really not that much in the grand scheme of things) but in exchange you'll be a smooth talker and pretty killer in melee since you'll be able to fight while taking more punishment then a more brutish fighter like the marauder....

I think that the witty banter typical of the muskeeter can be usefully mimicked with distracting behavior too, especially when couple with moves in the duel, so i see performer as a viable spec. Mechanically it's different cause you don't deal strain, but a generous application of threats is a good thing too.

Also, instead of politico yo ucould have a look at Agitator from Age of rebellion: the intimidating, and the scathing/improve/supereme scathing tirade are very good for that build i think, it only lacks the combat skills

If you're willing to be handy with a blaster, rather than a sword, the Smuggler/Scoundrel is pretty much made for your Star Wars era Porthos', Athos', and Aramis'. It combines wicked charm with a lot of useful, mainly defensive, but also quick-on-your-feet, light ranged abilities.

For the sword fighting action of the various Three Musketeer movies, a combination of Smuggler/Charmer and Shii-Cho Knight might closer hit the mark. Charmer really takes advantage of high Presence with some very musketeer-esque talents such as Kill with Kindness, Disarming Smile (confuse your enemy with witty repartee!), and Smooth Talker. Shii-Cho Knight has Athletics, Coordination, and Melee for career skills, and has just three Force talents, only one of which needs to be purchased to get to Dedication. It also has four Parry talents, Parry (Improved), Durable, and Multiple Opponents (musketeers tend to get better the more foes they fight), plus Conditioned for helping out in those over-the-top Athletics checks that musketeer's regularly perform to impress the ladies :) Couple that with gaining the Defensive quality on your melee weapons (Defensive Training), and you'll be a formidable swordsman with a flourish.

Remember Musketeers are called Musketeers because they shoot. So those talents for firearms make sense.

If you want to get technical, they were called Musketeers due to their skill with a musket.

...which is a firearm...that you shoot.